Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as the way to fulfill the ambition for power. In 1936, Orson Welles created a historic production of this play, casting a company of African-Americans and moving the setting from Scotland to one that evoked Haiti in the 19th Century,
under the reign of the slave-turned-emporer Henri Christophe.

Ensemble Theatre, in partnership with the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, is recreating and reimagining this landmark production and working from the Federal Theater Project’s script.The production opens May 23.